Digits
by Levii
Summary: AU fun!…Kari's pretty unpopular until Takeru and Dai befriend her on a class trip. But a something's up, and when the city goes under attack, /somebody/'s got to get to the bottom of things. (pt 6 up! finally!)
1. The Crossing Wires

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Digits :: Chapter One

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The Crossing Wires

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A/N: Tis just the first part. Its Digimon(bien sur!)and its rather an AU thing. Just the same lovely characters in a rather…different situation. Watch out for random couplings, flying yaoi (daiiikeru!), and other things that might not strike your fancy. Features mainly the 02 cast. Uses Japanese names sans honorifics. Enjoy!

.::.

Yagami Hikari whirled around, hoisting her sack up higher on her shoulder and beginning to press through the crowd once again. The sky had darkened a little, and tiny drops of water began to fall on the passerbys. Desperation grew.

"Sasami! Sasamiiii!" she called out futily, shoving her way past a man in a business suit. She didn't see anyone from her class. So much for the buddy system. She should have known from expierience that whatever buddy she got stuck with would wind up leaving before the first day was over. She had thought Sasami was buying something in the gift shop but when she turned around to find her so called 'buddy', the other girl had vanished. So now she was lost in the middle of Kyoto. Things were going. Just. Ducky.

"Sasami?" she tried again, more of a whimper than a holler. There was no denying the rain now. Umbrellas were opening and Hikari found herself dissapearing amongst the masses. She blinked some water off her eyelashes. _Maybe I should go back to the shop? If I go back, someone will probably find me. Maybe Sasami's still in the shop…_

Or maybe not.

While the rational part of her brain displayed optimistic ideas, the rest was screaming one thing.

Panic.

So Hikari did a little of both. Turned against the crowd, a fish swimming upstream, back toward the gift shop. Blindly. 

"Sasa-" she began, but found her face pressed up against…someone else. She tried to draw back, but whoever it was had a grip on her shoulders, and pulled her that direction instead. She opened her eyes to look up into a set of light blue ones and blinked.

"Hey, you're from my class, right?" The boy with the blue eyes asked. She glanced up at him in surprise. He was quite a bit taller than her, but he looked about her age, and sort of familiar. His blonde hair had gotten damp, and was hanging down in his face. She resisted the urge to push it away.

"Er…Odaiba High?" She finally replied, blinking and shaking her own hair out of her face.

"That's right!" he said, releasing her shoulders. He had a great smile, "Well I'd go for introductions, but what do you say we get out of the rain first?"

"Oh…uhhuh, sure," Kari nodded, still struck with what was probably a deer-in-the-headlights expression. Such a flattering look.

"Great! Let's take refuge in this restaurant…we're not due back on the bus for oh, a half hour or so."

"Sure," she said, following him through the crowd and into the restaurant. Which was equally packed. There were some more high school kids by the counter trying to order. Hikari felt a little relief. She didn't notice her companion talking until he grabbed her arm.

"…and sit with him? Come on!" he motioned towards something and pulled her along with him. It was impossible to tell what he was pointing to until they reached their destination.

"Hey Takeru!" another boy, most likely from their class called out, waving his arms and almost tipping over in his chair. He had raspberry colored hair that stuck out in all directions, tan skin, and a huge smile. His green sweatshirt said something in English.

"Daisuke!" the dubbed Takeru waved back, steering Hikari over to the table and pulling a chair out for her. The other boy pouted, chopsticks between his lips, and leaned on his elbows.

"Being a gentleman I see?"

"Whatever, Daisuke" Takeru said. He sat down and pulled the chopsticks out of his friends mouth, "What did you get us?"

"Us?" Daisuke teased, "I thought I was just buying for me! …Nah, Takeru, I'm kidding, I got udon bowls."

"Are we sharing or did you get two?"

"Um…" Hikari cleared her throat, a timid interuption.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Takeru exclaimed, "Introductions, right? I'm Takaishi Takeru, and this is—"

"Motomiya Daisuke!" The other boy interupted, offering a hand.

"Yagami Hikari," she responded, taking the others hand in her smaller delicate one and shaking. Daisuke gave her another grin.

"She got seperated from the group," Takeru explained, taking the second noodle bowl and a pair of chopsticks.

"Hm," Daisuke said, seizing the moment to get a good look at Hikari. She was a pretty girl, tiny and fair skinned. She sported a pleated skirt and a white blouse, _rather preppy_, he noted. Her eyes were lovely and large.

"Is something the matter?" Hikari asked, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze, her hand coming up towards her throat in a modest action. Takeru looked over expectantly at Daisuke, who didn't deter his stare. Hikari looked towards Takeru. He met her eyes. And grinned again.

"Oh don't mind him," he stated, "He's gay." Hikari's eyebrows rose while Daisuke snapped around to Takeru.

"Hey!" he exclaimed indignantly.

"Oh come _on_, Dai," Takeru said, mocking sarcasm, "No one really believes that _bisexual_ crap…"

"And after I bought you noodles too!" Daisuke exclaimed tearfully, acting of course. Hikari watched with amusement as they carried on, a smile tugged at her lips. They weren't shunning her, or trying to get rid of her, or even ignoring her, although they did seem a little wrapped up in their conversation. Maybe she had finally found some friends…?

"Hikariiii," Daisuke waved a hand in front on her face, "Earth to Kari! I asked if you wanted some udon."

"Oh! Sorry," she pushed a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Well…do you?" Takeru asked, swallowing and offering her both the bowl and the chopsticks.

"Really? I mean…really? You'd…?" She was really grinning now, maybe even blushing a little. _Why are they being so nice to me? _

"And we lose her again…come in Hikari! Don't worry, Takeru doesn't have THAT many germs…"

"Yeah, Daisuke would have contracted them by now, the way he _clings_ to me…" The taller boy added.

"I do not CLING…er, anyway, noodles?" Daisuke offered, "Last chance! Going once, going twice-"

"That's alright, I'm not hungry," Kari responded with a small smile, "But thank you for asking."

"Sure, that's what friends are for," Takeru said, taking the bowl back.

"Friends," Hikari repeated, as if absorbing the meaning of the word.

"Dude this is one SPACY chick you picked up," Daisuke said, pulling a pair of goggles out of his sweatshirt pocket and snapping them onto his head. Takeru ignored him.

"So Hikari, noticed you were by youself. Did you lose your…er, buddy?"

"I…ah, I think that…no…"

"Say what?" Daisuke pushed his chair away from the table, leaning forward in hopes of an answer.

"I don't think that…she wanted me around," Hikari said carefully flicking her glance towards Daisuke.

"Oh…" he said, looking from her to Takeru. Then he smiled, "Well you can hang with us then!"

"Sure, why not? Be the extra buddy," Takeru agreed, "If you want."

"Okay!" Hikari said, her eyes lighting up. _Its not like Sasami would care ANYWAY…_

"Of course you'll be on your own when its dorm time-"

"I ran out of soda!" Daisuke interupted with a frown, "I'm going to go get some more…want anything, Takeru?" He shot him a quick glance, light on expression, but it was enough.

"Um yeah…I'll come with you…I don't know what I want yet," Takeru got up, glancing back at Hikari, "Are you okay with saving the table? We'll make it quick."

"Uh, sure," she answered.

"Want anything?" Daisuke asked over his shoulder.

"No, I'm fine," she called back, relaxing in her chair and watching them walk off towards the counter, talking. She wondered(in a form of paranoia) if they were talking about her.

"You KNOW we were trying to avoid this!" Daisuke hissed, while they waited in line at the counter, "What if she…ya know, _finds out_?"

"Well I'm not the one who offered!" Takeru shot back.

"You COULD have objected, you know! Mr. 'sure why not?'"

"You're the one who brought it up the first place…"

"You're the one who brought HER here in the first place!" The two glared at each other then looked away.

"We're being stupid," Takeru finally said.

"I guess…Two of those, please," Daisuke said, pointing. They payed for the sodas. 

"Well, so much for that," the blonde said sheepishly, popping the top off his soda can.

"Right," Daisuke sighed, then looked up hopefully, "Does that mean we can kiss and make up now?" Takeru rolled his eyes.

"Maybe later," he said, sticking out his tongue.

"Don't stick it out unless you're going to use it."

"Oh shut up," Takeru muttered. He had located the table again where Hikari was sitting with her timid nature, her back to them, "Wait…" Daisuke glanced at the arm that was held in front of him.

"Hm?"

"Do you really…do you really think she's a _threat_?"

"Not her personally…I like Hikari. But…you know…she tells, we're toast. All of us." They looked again. Perhaps hearing their voices, or feeling their stare, the brunette turned around in her chair and waved when she saw them. Daisuke waved back, glancing at his blonde companion, and they started back over to the table.

"We should probably get going," Daisuke said, looking at his blue digital watch and adjusting his goggles, "The bus is probably loading up."

"Good idea," Takeru agreed, looking back over at Hikari, "Hey! We should inroduce you to Miyako!"

"Miyako?" Hikari inquired, standing up.

"Inoue Miyako…ring a bell?"

"Inoue Miyako!" Hikari exclaimed, slinging her bag over her shoulder, "Wasn't she the…"

"Yeah, yeah," Daisuke waved it away, "The hacker chick, right? Well she had a good reason for getting those files. Don't worry, she's nice."

"Uhhuh," Hikari responded, unconvinced. She followed the others to the door, pushing past a few late diners, "Oh look! There's the bus!"

"I claim the back!" Daisuke called, tapping his taller friend's arm and taking off.

"Don't mind him," Takeru said, giving Hikari a lopsided grin, "He's a little weird."

"Oh," she said, watching the boy with the burgandy hair run up towards the tour bus, "I think he's sweet," Takeru smiled and shrugged.

"At least I'm never bored," he replied, "Come on, lets follow them. If we get the back, we can all sit together," He flinched inwardly. _This IS what we were avoiding…_

By the time the other two got on the bus, Daisuke had already claimed the back of the bus, stretching out across three of the four seats with a bored expression, headphones on, and his back against the wall. The other seat was occupied by a girl with long purple hair hanging in her face, who was on her knees, leaning over the seat in front of her. She appeared to be talking to(or most likely, bothering)a raven haired boy seated in front of her. He was bent over a sketchbook, and he only nodded to acknowledge her chatter. He was wearing all black.

"Saved us seats, Dai?" Takeru asked, as Daisuke moved to make room for Takeru and Hikari. They settled into a half conversation, and Hikari looked over to find the purple haired girl staring at her through a pair of large glasses.

"Hi," she said carefully as the other pushed up her glasses and extended a hand.

"Inoue Miyako," she said.

"Y-Yagami Hikari," Hikari replied, grasping the hand. Miyako was certainly an interesting sight, wearing what appreared to be a pair of baggy jeans and swimsuit under a short tank. She had a couple of necklaces on and a bandanna tied over her hair. Her hand was cold.

"Hanging out with Takeru and Dai?"

"Um, yeah, I guess…"

"Cool," she said simply, flipping her hair back and returning to her kneeling position, back to bother the boy in front of her. Hikari blinked thoughtfully at Miyako. Then she realized that the teacher was talking and the bus was moving. Takeru and Daisuke were both listening to the shorter boy's headphones(with much difficulty)and Miyako seemed absorbed her black clad victim. Hikari sighed. It was going to be a long ride back afterall. Not that she wasn't used to it. With a sigh she leaned back in her seat, clutching her bag against her chest.

~

After the first half hour had passed, everyone in the back but Hikari had fallen asleep. To her right, Miyako slept upright, her arm twisted behind her head, bookbag under her feet. To her left Daisuke and Takeru were both out, leaning against eachother in a sound sleep. _Cute_, Hikari thought. Takeru had protested mildly when Daisuke first fell asleep against his shoulder, but with the boring tour guide droning on, he too yawned and eventually joined his friend in his slumber. Hikari leaned forward, bookbag still against her body to get a better look at the boy Miyako was harrasing earlier. He was pale, as she had noticed before, and he scribbled away at a drawing. His shirt said something that started with a "Ra", but she couldn't read the rest of it. His eyes slanted sharply, but he looked strangly calm. Hikari raised an eyebrow as he took an eraser to his paper. _How can he draw in a moving bus anyway?_

"Checking out Goth Boy?" asked a voice from beside her. Hikari jumped to see Miyako watching her with one eye open. She stretched out her arms then leaned back against the seat.

"Is that what you call him?" Hikari responded, afraid at first that he would hear their discussion, then realizing he was too wrapped up in his art.

"Well, his real name is Ken, but yeah, that's what we call him," Miyako shrugged, "I don't know him all that well. No one does."

"I see…"

"He's cute though, huh?" she said with a smirk, lowering her voice.

"Well I didn't…"

"Uhhuh," the taller girl smiled, unconvinced. "He's got a lot of fangirls."

"Oh really?"

"Yup," she lowered her voice again and talked behind her hand, "Even Daisuke was chasing him for a while. But he's too quiet for my tastes."

"Quiet, huh?" Hikari blinked, watching Ken again. His expression hadn't changed.

"Yup, that's Goth Boy," Miyako looked up, then back at Hikari, "Well if you plan to get to know him, good luck. He doesn't open up much."

"I wasn't really planning anything," Hikari answered. Miyako leaned back and closed her eyes again.

"Well, maybe you should," she replied.

~

A/N 2: Part one of…oh I don't know how many yet ^^; Perhaps a little Kenari in the near future. And just what are Dai and Takeru hiding? Review and Levii will like you lots =)


	2. Along the Gyre

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Digits :: Chapter Two 

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Along the Gyre

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A/N: Thanks to first chapter reviewers ^^ This chapter pushes the plot along a little towards the end, but everything's not crystal clear yet. All prior warnings apply. Daikeru and Kenari ahoy! (yes, Levii IS a great big weirdo)

.::.

After Miyako went back to napping, Hikari went back to looking at Ken. The seat next to him WAS empty, after all, and he'd just been drawing this whole time. She shook the idea from her head. She'd get yelled at by the teacher or the bus driver for swapping seats. And even if she didn't, Ken would probably just ignore her. He didn't even talk to Miyako, and she seemed like an easy conversationalist. Hikari didn't feel she had the knack to start up a conversation with anyone, let alone someone quiet like him.

"And here we're approaching…" The bus driver's remarks were becoming more sparse. It was just the trip to the host's house after all, how much could he come up with to say? It was impossible to hear him over the chatter in the front of the bus, but no one in the back seemed to care. Hikari checked her watch. Only about twenty more minutes. She sighed heavily and leaned back. Joining the others in their naps might be a better idea then talking to Ken anyway. She started to close her eyes when she heard a voice.

"Excuse me, do you have the time?" She opened her eyes to see "Goth Boy" peering over the seat at her. Had he just asked her that?

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"The time?" Ken repeated timidly, pointing to her pink wristwatch.

"Oh right!" Hikari said, sitting bolt upright, suddenly flustered. She pulled back her sleeve to look, "Ten till two," she answered, looking back up. Ken looked thoughtful, leaned over to get a better look at her then sank back into his seat.

"Thanks," she heard him say, then there was some scribbling. 

"Sure," she responded. _Must have gone back to drawing…_ She looked over to Miyako, then to her watch again, then to Takeru when a piece of paper fell in her lap. Blinking, she smoothed out the creases and looked at it. It was a sketch of…her? She looked up to see Ken leaning back over the seat. He blinked at her with his normal calm expression.

"Want it?"

"Why…did you draw me?" she inquired. He shrugged.

"Cause you're interesting?"

"Am I?"

"Sure."

"Mm," Hikari looked at the paper again then up at the boy. Was he wearing eyeliner or was that natural? She racked her brain for something to say. Silences were awkward. Especially when the other party didn't care. Ken seemed perfectly content just watching her. She pushed her hair back self consciously.

"Everyone else is asleep," she said. He nodded.

"Do you draw?"

"Do I what?"

"Draw."

"Uhm, yeah I guess…"

"Draw me something," he said, holding up his sketchbook, open to a new page.

"In a moving bus?"

"Yup."

"Isn't that hard? I mean if we hit a bump it could screw up everything…"

"Please," he held out the book again, a pencil tucked under his thumb. She frowned, but took the book. And the pencil. She brought it down to the page and began a sketch. Ken was watching her.

"Don't watch me," she told him, then to soften the remark, "Its distracts me," Ken sank down to the seat again, but before Hikari could draw another line, popped back up.

"This hurts my knees," he explained.

"Oh," she said, hesitating, "Do you want me to…" she gestured to the seat next to him.

"Yes."

"O-okay," she nodded, looking up the aisle then quickly sliding into the seat next to Ken. Now they were face to face. He didn't look much different up close. Still cute and…mysterious? She laughed internally at the thought.

"So…?" he prompted her, pointing to the paper. She nodded quickly, motioning for him to look out the window then continued her sketch. At the time she didn't know what to draw. But she settled on a flower. Girls draw flowers, right?

"There!" she said, holding it up for him to see. He nodded.

"Nice," he said, then cocked his head to the side, "Do you always draw flowers?"

"No," she explained, "But flowers are a girls forte. So I drew you a flower," That's when it happened. Until that moment, she hadn't seen him break his calm expression. But just then, he smiled.

No, he didn't smile. He grinned. His whole face broke into a grin, his eyes closing, and the corners of his mouth raising up in their direction. And it looked like the most natural thing in the world. Hikari couldn't help but brighten a little herself. It was a beautiful smile.

"You know, I really like you," he remarked(laughing!), "You're just so funny!"

"Funny? I wasn't trying…I didn't mean…" she said quickly, her cheeks pinking.

"Sign it," he said, pointing to her drawing with the grin still on his face. She silently obeyed. He picked it up.

"Yagami Hikari? I like you Yagami Hikari."

"T-thank you," she said.

"Call me Ken…Ichijouji Ken to be exact," he said.

"Alright, Ken," she said, eyeing him with interest. He was strange…even stranger then he'd seemed at first, but he was certainly interesting, "I'm not very popular, you know. Its nice to have someone say that."

"Oh well," he said, shrugging and putting away his sketchbook for the first time that bus trip, "I'm not exactly leaking charisma myself."

"Oh well," she agreed, with a smile. Today had started out so awful. But it was slowly becoming one of the best days of her life. She almost fit in! Takeru…he had been nice. Daisuke had been sweet too. And Miyako put up with her at least. And now Ken! He liked her! He wanted to be her friend! She felt like singing. The bus ride was suddenly wonderful.

~

Hikari had, once again, got the honor of the bedroll in the corner. The "dorm" room was quite a bit larger than she had expected, which meant more roommates. Which meant, on a universal scale, more girls that didn't like her. She was smoothing her sheets when she felt a pair of eyes boring into her back. She had a knack for recognizing things like that, sort of a sixth sense, as her brother always called it, but annoying as it was, she ignored it.

"Hey," said a voice, not at all friendly like Takeru or even Miyako. Hikari turned her head slowly. A taller girl with black pigtails stared back at her. She wore a green shirt and a scowl.

"What's wrong?"

"You're hanging out with that Motomiya guy, aren't you?" she said. She was obviously chewing gum, because she snapped it, causing the smaller brunette to blink in surprise.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked, pinning back a piece of the huff she felt inside. The pigtailed girl sneered back.

"Do you social outcasts just flock together or something? I'd think even someone like you would be better than THAT queer."

Hikari opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. She lowered her eyes slowly. She could feel the other girl's satisfied smirk. Say something, she urged herself, Talk back, shoot her down. She looked back up, her jaw set in determination. But by that time, another girl was already approaching the pair at a rushed pace. Miyako Inoue tooo the rescue!!

"Hey, Yagiko," the bespectacled girl said, leaning an arm on Yagiko's shoulder, "Know what I think?"

"Yeah?" she sneered back, popping her gum again, Hikari almost forgotten now that that insolent hacker girl was leaning on her shoulder.

"I think you're just jealous. Because Daisuke would rather lay Takaishi than YOU, Yagiko." The dark haired girl gasped, then a scowl crossed her face, but she showed no intent of responding. Miyako looked smug as she linked arms with Hikari and pulled the shorter girl with her towards to door.

"Let's go, Hikari."

"Oh…ok," Kari responded as she was dragged out the door, "Where are we going anyway? Miyako?"

"Main room," the other said shortly, "She didn't say anything too bad, did she?"

"Who?"

"Yagiko, stupid."

"No, nothing."

Miyako flicked a glance in Kari's direction and released her hand, "Good," She said, and she sounded serious. But her tone changed in a second, "So, you were talking to Goth Boy on the bus, huh?"

"Yes, I was. He's nice, you know."

"I know. He's great."

"Hey Miyako!" the extra voice belonged to Daisuke, who jumped in front of the pair as a welcome to the 'main room', as Miyako dubbed it, "Hey Kari!" 

"Daisuke," the brunette greeted brightly, looking over to the couch, "Hey Takeru!"

"Oh hey," the blonde acknowledged looking up from what was probably a school book, "You two done unpacking already?"

"We had a pest control problem," Miyako responded, flopping down on the couch with her legs wide spread. Hikari noticed she had changed into a short skirt after the bus ride. Daisuke did too.

"So you're wearing the BLUE undies today?" he chirped, throwing wink in her direction. She stretched lazily.

"Yup, just for you," she responded, but crossed her legs anyway. There was a silence. An uncomfortable one, Kari thought. Daisuke might have thought so too, because he pulled a candy packet out of his pocket and opened it loudly, letting the wrapper crinkle to the point where it was annoying.

"Stop messing around and eat it already," Takeru finally said, looking up from his book with disgust. The other boy smirked.

"Make me."

"You're just being difficult."

There was another silence. Maybe it was just paranoia, but Hikari felt that, well…her presence was causing them. If she hadn't been there, would Takeru have reacted differently? Miyako? Would they be talking about something completely different? She glanced at the silent trio. On the outside looking in, right? As usual. She suddenly though of Ken. Was he still unpacking? Where was he?

"I'll be back," she said quickly, taking a few steps towards the door, "I forgot to do something. Nice talking to you." Then she left. The three remaining teenagers glanced at each other, then at the exit.

"Wonder where she's going," Miyako said. The sound of Hikari's quiet footsteps faded. When she could no longer be heard, Daisuke leaped up from the couch and pulled the goggles (which were around his neck) up over his head to rest in his mop of burgundy hair.

"Okay," he said, in the same serious tone Miyako had taken while discussing Yagiko, "You know we have to do something about this."

"I don't think she suspects anything," the girl with glasses (and apparently blue undies) offered.

"I don't know," Takeru responded. He paused to crack his knuckles, "She seems like she might."

"She doesn't," Miyako said firmly, "She can't." Daisuke looked thoughtful.

"Well, as your fearless leader-"

"Our what?"

"No comments from you. I just want to look at the options. I like Hikari as much as the next person, but it breaks the pact."

"Oh right," said Miyako, rolling her eyes, "The pact."

"Its not just a pact!" Daisuke shot back, agitation growing, "Its our safety! Do you REALLY want someone to find out Miyako? Do you realize what might happen to us?"

"Don't yell at her," Takeru said. He sounded cranky as he pulled his knees up to his chest and looked to Daisuke, "Its hard for all of us." Daisuke looked at his sneakers.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I got carried away. I'm just worried."

"Its okay," Takeru said. Miyako managed a smile.

"I don't want to push her away," Miyako finally said, "I mean, maybe if we straight out tell her-"

"No!" Daisuke exclaimed, then caught himself, "No, we can't. What if her reaction is negative? We can't just snuff her, y'know."

"Maybe we should trust someone for once."

"Maybe not!"

"Are you so concerned over your own rep?"

"Its not just my rep, its-!"

"Keep your voices down!" Takeru interjected, looking around, "It isn't exactly private here," he glanced towards the exit again, "Hey wait…why are we the only ones in here? EVERYONE can't still be unpacking?"

"Hm, good point," Miyako said, raising up to her feet, "I'm going to go see. Maybe there's a fight or something!"

"You think?" Daisuke asked, pulling the goggles back down around his neck, "I'll go with you. Coming 'Keru?"

"Sure," Takeru said with a shrug. He stood up, "Nothing much going on here, is there?"

The alleged "fight" turned out to be nothing more than a broken window. The only odd part around it was the fact that no one really knew what happened. The host mother seemed to think it was a prank of sorts, and decided to keep a watchful eye on the students from then on, but there was no direct proof.

Hikari had been the last to find out, as she had seeked out Ken to start up a conversation, and when she did find out, she didn't give it much thought. Stuff like that happened all the time. It wasn't even worth discussing on the evening bus ride to the market square.

"Actually, I'm pretty excited," Hikari confided in the aptly dubbed Goth Boy, as the bus took a rather sharp turn. Takeru and Miyako made a point of squishing Daisuke behind her, "My brother, Taichi, said these evening trips were his favorite part. He said you can just run amok and hang out with your friends," _Which I have now, so screw you Yagiko…_

"That so?" Ken asked, enjoying the small talk. He had left his sketchbook back at the host home.

"Yup. I'm looking to buy a new hat or something…maybe I'll have some luck here."

"Cool," They smiled. The bus made one more violent turn before stopping short. A cheer erupted from the students as everyone begin to pile out.

"Single file!" called the teacher, but she shortly gave up. At least no one was getting stuck in the doorway. Miyako, Takeru and Daisuke had managed to get in front of Hikari and were pushing towards the door. Daisuke leaned over and whispered something to his blonde companion, who, in turn, turned to Miyako. They grabbed hands, then upon exiting the bus(Takeru tossed the driver a thank you), Miyako grasped Hikari's hand, adding her to the chain.

"Bye, Ken!" she called out helplessly, as they dragged her into the market square. Daisuke was practically running and the chain tagged along at a similar pace. 

"This is going to be awesome!" he called back. He begin an exagerated skipping motion which the others followed. The trio was laughing a little to hard now to keep up the pace. Takeru almost tripped and Miyako took the opportunity to break the chain and run ahead of the group. The others followed and continued, hopping along and ignoring the looks from passerbys. Hikari watched them.

"Oh!" she called, finally breaking a smile, "Wait up!" As she followed her friends, that alleged sixth sense tugged at the back of her mind. Something was wrong. But that didn't matter now, did it? She had to catch up. She ran off, ignoring the shadow passing overhead.

~

"Well at least I got my hat," Hikari said, pointing to the pink fishing hat atop her head. It was lined in blue violet felt.

"Looks cute on you," Takeru said with a grin. They were walking arm in arm along the street. Under the lamplight everything looked so pretty. They had lost Daisuke and Miyako to window shopping, and although Hikari was keeping an eye out for Ken, she didn't completely miss him. It was fun anyway. Hikari was about to comment on a shop to their left when two girls from their class ran up breathlessly to the pair.

"Hey Takeru, 'Kari," said the first. Her hair was much lighter than her companion's, but only slightly shorter.

"Hey," Takeru said carefully. The second looked up.

"So anyway I have to know…are you guys going out?" she asked eagerly. Hikari and Takeru looked at each other then back to the other pair.

"Er, nope," he responded.

"See, I TOLD you!" the first girl added, smacking her friend on the arm (who rolled her eyes).

"Sorry," she said, "I just figured you must be going out with SOMEONE, Takeru…"

"How's that again?"

"Well are you?"

"Well um…" Hikari smiled inwardly at the blonde's response. If he said no, the most honest response, the gossips wouldn't accept the answer. He settled on a shrug.

"Ooh, he is!" one exclaimed to her friend, "So tell us, who is it?"

"Someone really pretty," Hikari piped, hoping desperately she was doing him a favor.

"Yeah," he said, "We'll just leave it there." The pair looked expectant.

"So um, nice talking to you guys," Hikari said, giving Takeru's arm a tug, the universal symbol for "lets get out of here before this gets out of hand". But unfortunately, Daisuke chose that moment to make an appearance, bounding up to his two friends.

"Hey guys," he greeted, then threw an arm around Takeru's shoulders, pulling the blonde's face closer to his. _Kissing distance_, Hikari noted, though she doubted he was actually going to try anything along those lines. Not now, anyway.

"Bought you a chocolate bar!" Daisuke said, flashing a cute smile and holding up a plastic bag. Takeru looked at the two gossiping girls sheepishly. They looked at each other.

"Told you so!" the lighter haired one squeaked, before they took off into a passing crowd. Daisuke blinked at their retreating shapes.

"What was that all about?"

"Please," Takeru said, rubbing his eyes, "Don't ask. Hey, let me pay you back for that, okay? I don't want you blowing anymore money on me."

"Aw, that's okay. I like you. Here, I bought Kari one too."

"You did? Thanks!" she exclaimed, accepting the gift from Daisuke. She tucked it in her purse after scanning the label, "Yum, dark chocolate. Thank you."

"Sure," he said, forcing the other candy bar into Takeru's hand. The blonde conceded.

"Hey, have you seen Ken?" Kari asked Daisuke. He shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his blue pullover.

"Um…maybe," he said, "I don't know, I wasn't really looking."

"Oh, that's okay."

"You two getting along okay, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, pretty well. He's nice." There was another pause. Kari chewed her bottom lip, "So um…Daisuke, what all did you buy?"

"Uh…" he dug in the plastic bag, "New key chain? It was cheap."

"Hey, its an evil happy face!" Takeru laughed, taking it from Daisuke's hand to inspect it.

"Oh that's cute," Hikari said, looking closely at the item, "Oh…hey! I have one just like that, I think! My brother bought it for me."

"Really? Can I see?" Daisuke asked, pocketing his own. She smiled.

"Sure!" she said, digging into her handbag, "Its right—"

And that's when it happened. She never reached the key chain. Because that's when…IT fell out of the handbag. She had this particular item wrapped up in a scarf of sorts to conceal it, but when it fell (in what seemed like slow motion to her) and hit the ground, it bounced out of its wrappings and lay there on the concrete for all to see. She snatched it up, as quick as she could, but the damage had already been done. Takeru and Daisuke looked at her, wide eyed. She begin to inch away, her bag hugged tightly against her chest.

"I…I…" she tried to say. Her throat felt frozen. They were staring. They had to know. She took a few more steps away. Daisuke came to his senses first, and moving much too fast for Hikari, managed to overpower the girl, grabbing her viciously from behind.

"Don't run," he hissed. She squirmed.

"L-let, me go!" she managed, "Please, its not like you think," if things kept going like this, she would not only lose her newfound friends, she was in grave danger of getting her ass seriously kicked, "Please! Don't tell! Just forget it!" Daisuke was trying to say something, and Takeru was yelling something else, but she couldn't hear them. She was too desperate. 

"Just listen!" Daisuke said, keeping his grasp on the girl, "Don't panic! We're not going to hurt you!"

"Hikari! Hikari, listen to me!" Takeru said, forcing eye contact with her, "Hikari!" She calmed down only slightly, making an attemp to catch her breath. He was reaching in his pocket, pulling something out.

"Hikari!" he said again, more sharply then before. She looked at him. He was holding up a matching digivice. A green one.

"There," he said quietly, regaining his usual calm smile, looking very much relieved, "Is that better?"

~

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A/N: Yes, it gets more confusing. Don't worry, part three will definitely clear this mess up ^^ And see the lil review button down there? Isn't it cute? Don't you just want to poke it? *coff*


	3. Wait and See

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Digits :: Chapter Three 

****

Wait and See

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A/N: Sorry this one took so long to go up! This is becoming the un-betad fic, due to time crunch. I hope the errors aren't too awful. Anyway, this chapter is a little…strange. It sort of picks up at a weird point and leaves off at a weirder one. But hey! What's up with the digivice is revealed, among some other useful tidbits. And a little more on the…er, relationships is coming up in the next part. So anyway, enjoii!

Incase anyone noticed, I've been messing with my penname a bit. I think I'll leave it like this now, though ^^ Levii. Yesh.

.::.

She half heard their voices, but her brain did little to process the words. She wasn't even breathing, until the other's hand came into sharp contact with her cheek. She stepped back with the slap, and the sting managed to pull her back into reality. She drew in a breath and looked, wide eyed, to the two in front of her.

"Hikari," Daisuke hissed, lowering his hand. She shook her head curtly, then raised her own hand up to the stinging spot on her cheek.

"I-I'm sorry," she looked to Takeru, "Did you just…I mean, did I just see you take out a…?" She motioned to his pocket.

"Yes…I did," he said, and one of his eyebrows twitched a little. Then pointing to Daisuke, "He has one too. We need to talk."

"Talk, right," Hikari murmerd, rubbing at her eyes. Daisuke offered a flustered grin.

"Sorry about…hitting you. You scared me for a moment there."

"It brought me back to reality," she admited, nodding a pardon to the goggled boy, "I'm sorry I scared you. I just…well, it happens to me a lot." Daisuke opened his mouth to reply when Takeru gave his sleeve a quick tug.

"Maybe we should walk down through the park. We can talk there. No one will be listening. Everyone's probably making out anyway."

"True," Daisuke said, biting his lip. He grabbed Hikari's arm, "Might as well go then. Come on, 'Kari. This is too much."

"You're telling me," she replied, following the other along the sidewalk into the park. The streetlights provided the only real lumination in that area, and the trees even worked to block those out. A few couples peppered the grassy area (as Takeru predicted), but it was considerably less crowded then the city sidewalk. Takeru had stuffed his hands in his pockets and trailed after the other two, remaining silent until they passed under a larger tree.

"Okay, I have to confirm," he said, and the other's stopped at the abruptness of his words, "That was a digivice, correct?"

"We call them D3s," Hikari responded carefully, scanning the empty area.

"D3s then. Whatever. It still makes you a Chosen," Daisuke added. The girl gave him a half smile.

"Yes. How fortunate."

"There's nothing WRONG with that," The blonde cut in, sighing. He pushed back his hair, "There's something wrong with everybody else."

"They hate us," Daisuke added again, getting quite good at the follow up comments, "They think we caused the attacks. I mean, everyone knows someone, who knows someone who died or was hurt or something in the attacks. And they blame us."

"I know," Hikari bobbed her head, "I know, I know. That's why I was…afraid." Takeru eyed her carefully.

"You've…run into some problems, haven't you?" He got another half smile in return, "Its okay, it really is. We're all together now."

"Well, not ALL of us," the shorter boy cut in, "A lot of 'us' are still back home." Hikari snapped her fingers.

"Miyako! She's in on this, isn't she?"

Daisuke sucked in a breath, "Yeah. She's in." Hikari grinned.

"I knew it!" she said, even if it had only been a nagging intuition that had well…dissolved at a critical moment, "I knew that there was something different about her, about all of you, and even-" she stopped herself. Ken? Was he even part of this? And if she mentioned him…what would they think?

"Even what?"

"Even nothing. Me, even," she corrected, applauding her own save. Both boys shrugged.

"Well I say, hey, welcome to the club," Daisuke said, his tone becoming suddenly official as he adjusted the goggles. He held out his hand for Hikari to shake, "Annnd our newest member, Miss Yagami Hikari. Shall we swear her in now? Repeat after me. I, Hikari solemly swear-"

"Do you ever stop?" Takeru asked, poking Daisuke in the ribs, who swayed in an exagerated arc. The blonde rolled his eyes, but he did look a little more cheerful. Hikari was holding in a laugh.

"I mean well," the shorter boy protested, giving Takeru a shove.

"Of course you do," the blonde replied. He gave Hikari his own half smile and slung a friendly arm over her shoulders, "What he means to say, 'Kari, is welcome to the _family_."

Daisuke shifted. "Wait a second. You said 'we'."

"What?" Both Hikari and Takeru asked, looking up at their friend.

"You said we. We call them D3s. Who's we?"

"Just my brother and," she paused, "My brother's friend. Only the three of us."

"Brother? No kidding, mine too," The blonde remarked, suddenly grinning again. Daisuke let out an exagerated sigh.

"Oh yes, you're wonderful brother. Don't get him started, Hikari."

"Hey, just because I CARE about my siblings doesn't mean-"

"Are you implying I don't care about Jun? I love her really, she just drives me crazy," The shorter boy looked to Hikari, "You know, don't you?"

"Yeah," she said grinning, "Tai can be a real pain," she paused again. "Wait, I'm getting side tracked. I wanted to ask you about your digimon…you DO have digimon, right?"

"Oh..oh right!" Daisuke plopped down under a tree, pulling the goggles off his head to toss hand to hand, "Veemon's my partener. And he could so kick Patamon's ass-"

"Hey, watch it!" Takeru said, tapping the other's back with his foot, "You don't know that. Patamon's tougher than anyone gives him credit for."

"Well, I guess that answers my question," Hikari paused by the tree, leaning a shoulder against its trunk, "Me, I have Tailmon. She's been with me forever." She drew in a long breath, "Its just so nice."

"What?" Daisuke asked, looking up from the goggles.

"You. All of you. The fact that - oh," she gestured with her hand, a pointless direction, "Nevermind."

"Its okay," Takeru said quietly, "I get it." The sitting boy looked from the blonde to Hikari. Then back again.

"I don't," he said, "What's going on?"

Hikari laughed, "Its not important," she said, "Lets go back. We can link arms and skip, if you want, Daisuke."

So they departed in clumbsy formation. Hikari somehow couldn't get into the fun of it. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, something that she knew was going to happen. But it only remained as a feeling, and as she had no basis, she kept quiet. Something was watching them.

--

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"You know what to do if you see him, or any other…/Chosen/…"

"Well what do we have here?"

"I…I was just going to tell you-"

"Nothing to tell is there. Come on, then."

"Can I take a shot at him?"

"Get behind me, Hikari…"

"Shut the fuck UP!"

"Nii-chan!!"

"Don't TOUCH my sister-"

"I wouldn't be talking so much if I were you. Come on, kid, you're surrounded."

"Go ahead, snuff the punk."

"Stop it!! Can't you see you're hurting him?"

"Stay the FUCK out of this-"

"Run, Hikari! Get out of here!"

"No! No, don't-"

"Hikari! Hikari, wake up!"

She was jarred awake as Miyako seized her shoulders. Her eyes sprung open and she stared wide eyed into a pair of bespectled amber eyes.

"Geez, you scared me," Miyako said, pushing back a handful of hair, "You were screaming, 'Kari." Hikari rubbed her temples. It was the middle of the night. They were all safe in the host home, sprawled out on sleepers and futons. She let out a long breath, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I was having a…a nightmare." Miyako smiled, and her eyes were soft. She layed a reassuring hand on the other's shoulder.

"Its okay, we're all safe," she said. Hikari gave her a weak smile. They had told Miyako, of course, all the incidents earlier that night, and although she was not as surprised as the other two, she was just as relieved to find another Chosen. And her companionship with Hikari seemed to turn to genuine friendship overnight.

"Thanks," the smaller girl said, then hesitating, "Um…Miyako?"

"What?"

"Something's wrong. I didn't mention it earlier but I know-"

"Wait a second, what do you mean?" Miyako looked over to two girls sleeping on her right, then lowered her voice, "What's wrong?"

Hikari pawed at her eyes. "I don't know exactly, but I just have this feeling, Miyako. I know it sounds corny, but I…"

Miyako frowned.

"I don't know either, but," she said, "But, I believe you. Tommorrow…I'll get…"

"Get what?"

"Nothing, you'll find out," the taller girl flopped back down onto her futon, "Go to sleep, Hikari."

"Aren't you going to tell me?"

"No. It'll be worth the wait, I promise," Miyako rolled over, facing away from the other girl. Hikari let out a frustrated sigh, but got back into her temporary bed. She encircled her head with her arms and stared into the wall. Whatever Miyako was planning, it better be good, she thought with a scowl.

--

Once again, the students piled on the bus, this time for a sweeping tour of the local shrines. Daisuke and Miyako had again claimed the back, and abducted Takeru. Hikari was happy to sit with Ken again. They hadn't had much to say, so they spent the first ten minutes of the ride staring out the window and secretly eavesdropping on the conversation behind them.

"So anyway, we were talking and shit, and the next thing I hear is how that Momoe girl's out to kill me or something-"

"That's putting it a little harshly."

"Yeah, how could anyone not like /Daisuke/, of all people…"

"Mean."

"I'm just kidding. Gimme your phone. I wanna play snake."

"You'll just beat my score."

"You keep hitting walls. Even Takeru can beat your scores."

"'Even Takeru'? Just what is that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing. Come on, Dai, the phone! The phone! I'm dieing of boredom here."

"Get your own phone."

"Please? Give me the goddamn pho-one! C'mon, cough it up"

"Dai, give her the phone."

"Whose side are you on anyway?"

"I'm sick of the bitching. Give her the phone."

There was silence. Miyako must have gotten what she wanted. Hikari leaned her forhead against the glass of the window. A cool welcome to the buses muggy interior. She had packed up her hat again and opted for the attire of the season - knee length skirt, sneakers, and a white tee. She glanced to Ken, wearing at least two layers and black cargo pants. Wasn't he warm by now? And didn't he ever get SICK of black?

The bus jerked, causing her head to slam into the window glass. She let out a yelp of pain and clutched at her head, but when she looked up, she knew a headache wasn't going to stay a top priority. The teacher and three students crammed up next to driver, talking rapidly and pointing. There was some screaming. Miyako had stood up and was blocking the aisle. Hikari rubbed her head and looked up at the other girl.

"What is it?" she demanded. Ken looked frozen, and Miyako slowly raised up her hand, almost losing a bracelet, and pointed to the front window. She gawked. Hikari looked, at the same time a cry of "monster" erupted from the front of the bus.

What was there, could be better described as a dinosaur. A black scaly hulk, right in the middle of the road. There were probably more behind it. Daisuke was yelling something, but all Hikari could do was stare. Digimon. And not very friendly ones at that. It loomed over the bus, side swiping a building with its tail and spitting streams of flame at the panicked civilians below.

There were only three times where Hikari had actually cussed. Once when she broke her ankle in the school hall, once when her cat destroyed an art piece she had worked long and hard on, and one which will be later revealed. This time made number four.

"Oh SHIT!" she exclaimed, standing bolt upright and smashing her already injured head on the bus ceiling. She didn't even notice. Ken still sat in his seat, eyebrows raised and mouth in a slight frown. She pushed past him to stand in the aisle with Miyako.

"What the hell are those?" Hikari demanded, pointing to the digimon ahead.

"I don't know, but they don't look very nice," The other girl said, paling a little as the thing stepped closer. 

"DarkTyranomon," Takeru said, standing up behind them. He looked even paler than Miyako. As the two girls turned to look at him, Daisuke shoved his way up between them.

"We have to get off this bus!" he snapped, giving the group a push, "Seriously, we HAVE TO! EVERYONE OFF THE BUS!" A few heads turned to look at him, mostly with "are you crazy/who is this nut?" expressions. Wouldn't it be safer on the bus afterall? Hikari knew better. She grabbed a hold of Miyako and tugged her towards the front.

"Come on, he's right! We have to move!" They followed the short aisle to the door, slamming up against the emergency door release before the teacher or driver could protest.

"Get off the BUS!" Daisuke repeated, before (dragging Takeru) following the two girls out the door. There was a pause in action, and for a minute Hikari was sure no one would move, and instead they'd be reprimanded for leaving the bus or something, but she was wrong. Everyone fought for the door.

Miyako was digging in her backpack, "I need a computer, quick," she said. Daisuke scanned the area.

"There's a drug store over there, across the street," he said, still keeping a deathgrip on Takeru's arm. Everyone was almost off the bus, but no one showed any interest in chatting.

"Daisuke, you're cutting off circulation in m-" Takeru's sentence was abuptly cut off as two more DarkTyranomon appeared behind the first. The complaint was drowned out by a brigade of screaming.

"We're going to the drug store!" Miyako voiced, over the screams, jerking her arm around to point at the building, "We'll be safer there than here, I promise! Come on Hikari!"

"Hey, where are you going?" Their teacher asked, loosing all of his refined qualities. The digimon took a few steps closer, shaking the sidewalk, as the two girls cut across the street, followed by…well, everybody else. The clerk working the counter looked more than a little surprised to see a whole high school class barge into the store at full speed.

"Can I help you?" he asked the flustered crew. They gawked at him.

"Have you LOOKED outside?" a short boy asked.

"Monsters!" two girls screamed, clinging madly to eachother's blouses.

"They're huge!"

"In the middle of the street! They're like DINOSAURS!"

The clerk blinked, then took a few steps over to the store display in the window. Just as he peered out the glass, one of the digimon charged the window, sticking its face up against the glass and roaring to shake the building. The man yelped, and staggered back into the crowd of terrified students. He looked ready to pass out.

"They might break the glass," Daisuke said cooly, approaching the startled group.

"What's your password?" Miyako asked, already tapping into the computer, "I need to get some kind of sheild up. I can get it up before that thing decides its hungry, if you'll give it to me."

The man went sheet white.

"Center53," he said weakly, before promptly passing out. More students panicked.

"Hold on," Miyako muttered, staring into the screen, fingers flying over the keys, "Hikari, get my digivice, its in the bag."

"What's going on?" a student asked, surveying the two. Daisuke and Takeru ran up their side.

"I'm saving the world," the purple haired girl muttered, teeth gritted. There was a murmer among the crowd. One of the monsters crashed against the back wall, and the screaming resumed.

"HAH! Got it!" Miyako exclaimed, jumping up and slamming the enter key. There was a crackle of electricity, then the sounds from outside vanished, leaving the room with an eerie quiet. A girl with short brown hair stepped up to the group.

"What did you just do?" she asked, sounding a little unsure.

"Erected a force field is all," Miyako said proudly, "We're all safe now. Nothing can get in." There was a long silence as the bus escapees looked from one to another. Then the brown haired girl started clapping. The Chosen looked at eachother and grinned. There was some more clapping, then some laughing, but it was abruptly cutoff by a shrill cry.

"You!" a voice called, as a girl pushed her way through the crowd to the front, "I know who you are! Traitors!"

"Yagiko?" Hikari asked, caught off guard by the scowling girl who poked an offending finger into the center of her chest.

"I know who you are!" she repeated, "You're….you're some of THOSE kids. Those CHOSEN kids. Those are YOUR monsters out there killing civilians!" The crowd went silent again, save a few harsh whispers.

"I-"

"Well, its true, isn't it? Look, they're not denying it!" 

Daisuke let out an exasperated sigh. "Look, Yagiko-CHAN," he said, approaching the pigtailed girl, "Those aren't OUR monsters."

"No one's going to listen to YOU, Motomiya!" she shot back, turning to the crowd, "They're responsible! They've trapped us in here!"

"They've saved us from those things!" another voice cut in. The brunette with the bob cut again.

"Stay out of this, Rei," Yagiko snapped. Rei looked taken aback. Miyako stole the moment to march straight up to their accuser, taking full advantage of the fact that she was a good handful of cms taller than the other.

"Hey," she said, staring down Yagiko, "Shut the fuck up. You're annoying me."

Rei and Daisuke practiclly whooped while Yagiko backed off, stumbling back into the crowd.

"You'll get yours, Inoue," she hissed, but that was all. The teacher took that moment to try to regain a little control.

"I don't think I'm quite up on things," he admitted, approaching the group by the computer, "Let me get this straight - we're safe here?"

"Safe as can be, Kotabe-san," the purple haired girl chirped, grinning. Hikari stepped up to the teacher. He wasn't taking it as bad as he could have been, looking only as frazzled as the rest of the crowd.

"Nothing to worry about, as long as we stay here, Sensei," she offered.

"Right-o," Daisuke added, taking control of the computer, "Now, Miyako, I do believe you had a plan…"

Miyako looked up sheepishly. "Takeru?"

"Uh, right," the blonde said. Hikari noted those were his first words since they had entered the store. His color was returning a little, "Okay, Daisuke, digivice? Hikari?"

"Okay," Hikari said, pulling hers out to hand to Takeru. She didn't think to ask why. Daisuke followed suite. With Miyako's still on the counter, he had the whole set.

"Okay, Miyako, gonna need a hand here," Takeru said, punching a few keys. She rolled her eyes but walked over to the keyboard.

"Its okay, you did it right," she said, eyeing the screen, "Just um…press enter and…stand back." Takeru hit the key and both jumped back from the computer. First, nothing happened, and Miyako begin to speak, but a bright light and a series of mechanical noises cut her off. Hikari stared wide eyed at the monitor, the light seeming to engulf her and the rest of the Chosen. She closed her eyes. She opened them when she heard Daisuke laugh.

Digimon! Their Digimon. 

"Tailmon!" she exclaimed, instantly running to scoop the little cat up into her arms, "Tailmon! Its been ages!"

"Hi, Hikari!" the digimon responded with equal excitement. The others were talking and laughing, but the bunch of students was silent again. Yagiko muttered something about monsters and stepped away, but Rei, and a small group behind her looked absolutly captivated.

"Little monsters," she said, "They've all got one…" Hikari looked back to her with a grin, but something else caught her eye, turning her smile to a stare. Ken was watching with the most impossible expression on his face. Was it loneliness?

_There we go: Miyako saves the day while Teek and Daisuke trip over eachothers shoelaces! Or something like that. And a weird flashback. Sha-na-na-na…writing reviews is good clean fun *g* Questions and comments more than welcome ^_^ Hey, I'm checking my mail more often now…_


	4. Trapdoor Knocking

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A/N: I'm taking advantage of my *winter break* by writing. Wheee ^__^ And what was WITH my header? Since when were these chapters? Meh, I'll fix it later. 

Along with the CORN. Has anyone noticed the CORN? My beta said "Its not too bad, its cool anyway" But BLARGY, its bugging me! 

Oh, and has anyone noticed how screwed up Hikari is? I'm giving her a messy little past to work with, but still. Originally she had all these violent tendencies (mostly in part two, draft one), which got wrote out by the final draft, but there is one of those in here. So um, bear with me. Special stuff coming up in the next part ^^ Intermission!

part four :: **trapdoor knocking**

Daisuke pulled the wrapper off a candy bar and broke the chocolate in half. He gave one half to Veemon, and flopped down against the paper towel display to eat another. Miyako, from her perch in front of the computer, raised her eyebrows.

"Are you going to pay for that?" she asked.

He gave her a look. "No."

"But that's stealing!"

"Miyako, I think these certain circumstances dictate snitching a candybar or two is a-okay. I mean, we're STUCK in a DRUG STORE, by some EVIL DIGIMON."

The bespectaled girl frowned, looking away from the boy to her Digimon on her right. Hawkmon beamed up at her.

"Well, I don't know what we're going to do," came a voice from the window. Takeru trodded over to join the rest of the Chosen, plus Rei and two other boys. Patamon had taken up residence on his head.

"Well we can't just STAY here!" the little orange digimon insisted.

"Patamon's right," Hikari offered, looking up from her conversation with Tailmon and around the room. Everyone had broken off into cliques and was talking quietly. The teacher was helping the dazed clerk.

"We don't have a plan," Takeru pointed out, "We don't even KNOW why those things are out there."

"We do," Miyako corrected, waving a hand at the screen, "Its all over the net. Read all about it. Various Japanese cities under attack. And you know what's been reported at every scene?" she looked at them over the top of her glasses, "Bats." 

Whatever that meant, Hikari wasn't sure, but Daisuke let out a startled sound, and he and Takeru exchanged glaces. Even Tailmon seemed to tense up.

"Vamdemon!" she hissed. Hikari looked from one to the other, trying to make sense of the situation. That's when she noticed Ken.

"Damn, we just can't get rid of him," Daisuke muttered.

"And we STILL don't have a plan!"

"Okay," Miyako said, squeezing her eyes closed and holding her temples, " I think I've got something. I came a across a list of places this Vamdemon could possibly be after a little research. I've narrowed it down to two."

"Two?" Takeru asked, "Are you sure?"

"92% sure," she said, "Two places. So here's the plan. We split up and seek out. Leave the rest of the class here where its safe."

"Split up?"

"Teams of two," she said, matter of fact, "You go with Daisuke, I'll go with Hikari."

"So," Daisuke said, "We leave everyone here ALONE? What if the shield weakens or something? Say the power goes out? What's going to happen to them?"

Miyako paused. "Okay, didn't think of that," she said.

"Well, THINK of that next time."

"Are you trying to be difficult?"

"Yes, is it working?"

Miyako let out a long sigh, flexing her fingers then running them stiffly through her hair. She shook her head.

"Well, what do you guys think then - Daisuke? Takeru? Hikari? Hikari?" Miyako repeated the other girl's name loudly, but Hikari wasn't paying attention. She had vaguely heard the plan, of course, but she was still watching Ken. He still had that odd look on his face, and was now leaning against a wall clutching his gray bookbag against himself. Hikari narrowed her eyes.

"Earth to HIKARI!" Miyako continnued, cupping her hands for added effect. But the smaller girl wasn't watching. Instead, she had begun to stalk over to Ken. When he looked up at her, it was too late. She snatched his bookbag away from him violently.

The other's gawked.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Ken demanded, grabbing for his bag. She was too quick though, and wordlessly she begin to undo the buckles and SHAKE the thing for all it was worth. Pens and books scattered all over the floor, along with a hat some other articles. Hikari scowled, shaking the thing even harder. She had to find what she was looking for. Ken was still yelling to stop, and sideline conversation entertained the fact that perhaps she had finally lost it. But with one final shake, she dropped the bag, and dropped to the floor, letting out a sound of victory.

It was, of course, another digivice, this one black. She stood up, holding the thing and raising an eyebrow at Ken. She was a little peeved.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she demanded. He stepped back and shook his head. Silence.

Miyako gawked. "…Goth Boy?"

"You should be helping us!" Hikari shot, poking a finger in the others face, "Why were you just standing there?" He shook his head again, and opened his mouth to speak. But again, silence.

"Seriously," Daisuke sputtered, "You never even TOLD us!" Ken finally found his voice.

"Of course I didn't!" he said, "You never told me either!"

"But you've known for the past hour," Takeru pointed out. Glare, "And you didn't even mention it!"

"What's your excuse anyway?" Hikari again. She couldn't help feeling a little angry. Afterall, it HAD been a good hour stuck in a fucking DRUG STORE.

Ken got denfensive, "I didn't want to just come out and SAY something! I didn't want to…to ruin-"

"What? Your image?" she pressed. Ken didn't get a chance to reply. Takeru cut in.

"I think its more than that," he said quietly. Hikari looked over to Ken, who was blushing, of all things. Apparently the blonde had hit a nerve.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Hikari asked. Even stares answered a silent response. She turned to look at Daisuke.

"I think he's saying," he offered, sounding more teasing than serious, "That he didn't want you to like him any less. Because he liiiikes you, Hikari."

"Oh," she said, taken aback. There was nothing else to say. She quickly glossed over the topic, looking down at the digivice, "Um…so, do…we better…"

"Wow, that can just kill a moment! Toss me the digivice," Miyako to the rescue once more, "We better get your little buddy's ass over here, Ken."

She tossed her the digivice. Ken managed a weak thank you.

--

"Okay!" Daisuke said, taking charge to the situation. He had penned in a chart in Ken's notebook, and employed a pencil as a pointer, "Hikari solved out problem. Here's the NEW plan. We split up, like Miyako said, but four go out and one stays here."

"Who stays?" Hikari asked, leaning on her elbows to get a closer look at Daisuke's hasty plan.

"I'll stay," Takeru volunteered, "Me and Patamon can hold up fort incase of a power outage."

"No," Miyako said, shaking her head, "I know the most about the field. I'LL stay. We need you on the outside." Takeru shrugged, but seemed to agree.

"Okay," Daisuke continnued, "If Miyako stays, its just us. We'll split up of course. Ken, you go with Takeru. Hikari, you're with me."

"Okay," Ken agreed, holding his Digimon, Wormmon against his chest. Hikari gave him a small smile, then nodded to the self appointed leader.

"That's settled then!" Daisuke said, slamming the notebook shut, "We should get on it right now."

"Wait," said Miyako, "Sure that's all fine and good, but you're forgetting something important."

Daisuke glared at her. She was raining on the parade.

"I mean," she continnued, "How are we going to get OUT? Those DarkWhatevermon, are still out there in front. As soon as we drop the field, they can break through the glass and start mauling people."

"That could be a problem," Hikari added. They paused, in thought.

"Ok, idea," Takeru offered, taking Patamon off his head and setting the little digimon on the table, "We only have to drop the shield for a second. If we could push a bunch of displays and other heavy items up against the glass, we could at least discourage them and confuse them. I mean, it'll work for a while."

"Sounds like our best bet," Miyako confirmed. She leapt up on the desk and cupped her hands like a megaphone, "HEY! Hey YOU! Hey everyone! We're going to lower the shield in a minute here and-"

She was suddenly drownded out by the panicking, and chattering crowd. Their teacher looked up from his place with the clerk.

"That's not a good idea, Inoue!" he called, "Isn't that the only thing keeping those monsters out?"

"Well, yeah," Miyako said, blushing a little. She scanned the crowd, "HEY! LISTEN UP! Ok, that's better. We are going to lower the thing in a bit, yes, but only for a short period of time. Now, I need all of you to help. We're going to push some displays, chairs, whatever is heavy and can stack, up against the front window. Block it up. Then we'll all be okay while I drop the shield." 

There was a hushed silence. Miyako straightened her glasses and pushed some hair out of her eyes. When she looked back up, the student body was still standing, watching. She shot them a look.

"NOW!" she boomed, which startled them enough to get them working. She, Takeru, and Daisuke moved to assist their class. Two displays crammed up against the glass, followed by a handful of shopping carts.

"I'm seeing a problem here," Ken muttered, watching them work. Hikari looked up.

"What is it, Ken?" Wormmon asked, beating her to the punch.

"Okay, we're blocking the front door and windows, right?"

"Right…" Hikari said.

"And we already know the back door is blocked by rubble. And there aren't any OTHER doors, or windows to unlatch. So…how are WE getting out?"

Hikari scanned the store. He was right.

"That IS a problem," she said, "Plus, do we really WANT to go outfront? I mean, that's where the DarkTyranomon are anyway."

They stood, silently again, watching as a few students packed some shelves towards the front of the store. Hikari caught sight of Takeru, and immediately ran up to report the problem.

"Ok, that is a problem," He agreed, "But like you said, we don't want to go straight out front anyway…"

"Ken noticed," the brunette piped, watching Goth Boy out of the corner of her eye. He was talking to their Digimon.

"Did he have any ideas?"

"Um, nope."

"Hm," The blonde said, then wandered off again_. Probably to find Dai or Miyako_, Hikari thought. She didn't even notice Ken was calling her from behind.

"'Kari," he said, when she finally turned. They dodged a run away shopping cart, "We came up with an idea. It was Wormmon's."

The green digimon beamed.

"Anyway, did you notice those windows up there? By the shelves? I mean, they're kind of high, but if we could get up there, we could probably squeeze out. They have latches and all."

"Its worth a shot," she said, looking up the windows, "But how are we suppose to get up there? Climb up the shelves?"

"We could do that," Tailmon piped. She elbowed Worrmon.

"Or," he said shyly, "We could…digivolve and fly up."

"Of course!" she said, letting out a short laugh, "Why didn't I think of that?" She patted Ken's digimon on the head.

"Um, could you tell Miyako for us?" Ken asked. Hikari blinked at him.

"I think you should," she said.

--

"Bingo!" Miyako exclaimed, "That should hold up well!"

The "that", was their makeshift barricade, piled high against the glass. In reality, the mess of shopping carts and shelves couldn't withstand much, but the fact that the Tyranomon could no longer see in, was a help in itself. The purple haired girl smiled, striding up to Ken and slinging an arm over his shoulder.

"And you're window idea," she said, "You're turning out to be more of a help than a hinder afterall!"

"Thanks," he said, giving her a half smile. Hikari stifled a grin.

"So anyway," she continnued, "I'm having hawkmon digivolve. He can fly all of you up to the window, and you can pile off and disperse. I recomment digivolving one of the digimon as soon as you get outside."

"Why can't we just digivolve now?" Daisuke asked.

"Window's too small, Dai."

"Ah, thanks Takeru."

"Anyway," Miyako said again, "I'll lower the shield when you guys get up there, and then you can bail ASAP. Then the shield goes back up. Hawkmon, are you ready to d-" she stopped short. Her digimon was gorging on chocolate.

"What?" he asked, dropping an empty wrapper.

"Why are you eating?!" she demanded.

"Because I was HUNGRY!"

"Well you don't-…oh wait. Right, you need to eat to…mmhm, something else we forgot."

"I didn't forget," Daisuke said, digging into his pants pocket to produce a candybar, "I packed some candy just incase we run out of energy. Right Veemon?"

"Right! I get hungry a lot."

"Do you have enough for Tailmon too?" Hikari motioned to her skirt, "I don't have any pockets today…"

"Sure thing, we can share," He looked to Ken and Takeru, "You guys stock up too."

"Go for it Ken," Takeru said, "You do have more pocket room than I do."

"Sure," The dark haired boy said, moving to grab some wrapped snacks from a shelf that hadn't been propped against the window. He was wearing cargo pants, and he managed to fill most of the larger pockets.

"Okay, where were we before that…" Miyako sat down in front of the computer, "Right. Hawkmon digivolves and I lower the shield. Go for it, dude."

"Right!" The digimon confirmed, stepping into a cleared area of the room. The other's stepped back, "Hawkmon!-" he called, a light surrounding his form, "Digivolve to - Aquilamon!" Hikari watched as his shape grew in size until the light cleared.

"All right!" Daisuke exclaimed, swinging up Veemon, "We're ready to GO!"

"Everyone on!" Aquilamon announced. With minor difficulty, the Chosen toting their digimon managed to mount the eagle-like digimon and fly up to the shelf's top, where they stopped to unlatch the window. Daisuke jumped off, testing the stability of the shelf(it was luckily attached to the wall), then moving to open their escape hatch. 

"There we go," he said, "Look, an alley, how convinent. Those Darkmonthings couldn't get back here if they tried. C'mon, Hikari, Tailmon. Ladies first." The two glanced at eachother, then got off Aquilamon's back and onto the shelf top. Hikari leaned against the wall and glanced out.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "That's…that's a long drop! How are we suppose to get out there?"

"Here," Ken said, dismounting with Wormmon, "I'll go first, then I can catch you if you can't make it."

"Um, thanks," Hikari said, feeling a slight blush at the offer. Ken shrugged, then still holding Wormmon, jumped out the window. It wasn't quite as high as Hikari had made it out to be, and he was able to land without much stumbling. He set down Worrmon and beamed up at her.

"Come on, its safe!" he called.

At the same time Hikari was jumping, the student body below had stopped watching in silence, and had begin to shout. To the Chosen, to one another, at the teacher…Seeing Hawkmon's evolution had struck them silent, but the shock was long over.

"Hey!" the teacher called, in response to some loud objections from his class, "What are you doing? Get down from there!"

"Can't," Daisuke said. Takeru and Patamon jumped onto the shelf and Aquilamon descended back down, shrinking back into his Hawkmon form, "We'll be back. We just have some business to be taken care of."

Rei was watching, quiet until now, from Miyako's claimed computer desk.

"What are you doing?" she called up. Daisuke gave her a smile, before knocking Takeru out the window (who protested before toppling). Patamon fluttered down after him.

Daisuke let Veemon jump as well, then steadied himself against the window and looked back to Rei. "We're saving the world," he replied, and with that, jumped out the window. More silence.

"Shield's back up!" Miyako announced, hitting enter on the keyboard. She looked at the open window and bit her lip.

"I hope they can read my directions."

--

"We should probably get on this as soon as we can," Ken pointed out, after Daisuke had landed, tipping back against the wall.

"True," Daisuke said, standing up straight once more and rearranging his goggles, "Do both teams have a copy of the plans?"

"Yep," Kari and Teek confirmed, holding up their printouts. The former with more enthusiasm than the latter.

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. Kari and I can take the closer one, and go by land out back. You and Ken can digivolve or whatever, and take off in by air. First one to get there, send an email. To the other team, and one to Miyako. If its it, we'll follow. If its not, you follow us. Got it?"

"Sounds pretty complicated," Kari mused.

"Its not, really," Takeru offered, motioning to the Digimon, "You're with Dai anyway. Hopefully he knows his own plan. Let's go, then."

"Right," Ken said, giving Hikari a long look, "I think you guys should go first. We'll cover your back. I know Miyako said to digivolve, but if you don't, you should be able to sneak around better without wasting excess energy."

"Good idea," Hikari said. There was a pause, and the small brunette seized the moment to run up to Ken and give him a quick hug, "You guys be careful," she said, after letting go, feeling a little flustered.

"Sure," he said, "Don't worry."

"You too, Takeru," she said.

He threw her a smile. "You too, Kari." Daisuke stepped up to the trio.

"Don't I get a hug, then?" he teased the blonde.

"No. You pushed me out a window."

"Aw, c'mon, you can't still be sore about that. Kari and Ken caught you, didn't they?"

"That's beside the point!"

"All right, we should probably get going," Hikari interupted, grabbing Daisuke's shirtsleeve. It was frayed.

"Uh, right," he said, looking much like he was trying to stay stoic, "Sure, we'll go this way. The coast looks clear."

"We'll watch you're back until you're safely on your way," Takeru called, as the two crept around the corner and took off in a run, tailed by their Digimon.

"See you later!" Hikari called over her shoulder. She stole a glance at Daisuke, who was keeping pace beside her. 

"Or else," she added with a smirk.

--

__

Er, ok, the ending was corn, but I can get away with this in a multi-part fic. Right? Right? And the shield thing…its something like the one Izzy used in 01, except it's a two way shield. I don't know if his was or not ^^; Another note on the Digimon…those eggs don't exist in this reality, just to keep it simple. 

And if you're reading this, you're already at the bottom of the page! So click the review button and give me some feedback =D It'll make pt 5(and the intermission!) come out a lot faster.


	5. When Your Nights are Sleepless

__

A/N: Wow, thanks for the reviews on the last part! Made my day! Anyway, welcome to part five and the intermission. The part commences at the top, and the intermission picks up where it ends. This parts pretty boring in comparison. I've been having some format problems with this, but they're hopefully cleared up now o.O

The title from this chaper comes from a song by Chumbawamba called "Small Town", and the full lyric is "Every morning comes too soon / When your nights are sleepless". And I'm sure you all care immensly ^__^ It starts out with a battle and ends up in friendshippy goo, which you'll probably have to slosh through in snow boots =P But anyway:

part five :: **when your nights are sleepless**

After the first burst of energy, Team A, also known as Hikari and Daisuke settled into a quick walk. It was surprisingly pleasant, Hikari had thought, considering they were walking straight into a fight with their worst enemy. Daisuke had hoisted Veemon up on his shoulders, who was knawing on one of the stolen candy bars. At the news of the attacks, everyone had closed shop and locked themselves inside. They had the whole street to themselves.

"Everythings so quiet," Hikari mused, keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble or evil digimon. Tailmon padded along behind her.

"Isn't that good?" she quipped.

"Yeah, its good," Daisuke responded, stretching and yawning, "Its getting warm, let up on my shoulders, dude. I need to take this sweatshirt off."

Hikari looked at Miyako's printout and frowned, "Its farther than we thought, you know," she said, "Maybe we should consider getting a ride or something."

"We'll be okay," Her companion responded, though the sweatshirt was making its way over his head and his voice was muffled, "We don't have to get there tonight. We could like, um…camp somewhere."

"Right," she said, with a short laugh. He shrugged and bunched his sweatshirt around his waist. He lifted Veemon back up on his shoulders, then manuvered his way around Hikari to walk backwards in front of her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, laughing again. She kept walking. So did he.

"Walking backwards," he said, "Um…this way I'll be able to tell if anything's…behind me."

"Right," she said, "But you can't tell what's in front of you. You're about to run into a pole."

"Thanks," he said, working his way around it. Hikari grinned and rolled her eyes. She had looked back at the map, one last time, when Daisuke let out a startled yelp. When she looked up, he and Veemon both wore fixed looks of surprise.

"What?" she asked, feeling a chill run down her body, "What? What?"

Daisuke blinked and managed to collect himself momentarily.

"P-Parrot!" he said. Veemon hid behind his hair.

"What?" Hikari asked again, suddenly afraid to turn around. Whatever was shocking Daisuke, could probably do a number on her as well.

"Parrotmon!" he said, and Hikari heard a noise from behind. He took a step back and yelled.

"DUCK!"

"Parrot? Duck? Daisuke, wh-" she didn't get to finish, because before she could, her friend had tackled her, sending them both rolling across the sidewalk and the narrow street. She felt her head crack against the cement and one of Daisuke's hands dig into her side. But thoughts of a concussion were forgotten when she got a glimpse of what he had just saved her from.

A monterous green bird with yellow wing tips and talons bigger than her let out a screech and dug into the cement of the sidewalk where they had just been standing. She drew in a shaky breath as she watched the bird turn its gigantic head in frustration. It opened its mouth in another screech and let out an energy beam, enough to take out two of the parked cars. She felt a wild heartbeat, though she couldn't be sure whether it was her own or Daisuke's, who was currently still on top of her, frozen as he watched the thing crush its talons into the sidewalk.

"That's Parrotmon and his Sonic Destroyer attack. Don't worry, we'll get him!" Tailmon's voice said, as she recovered from her own shock and moved to stand next to Veemon. Hikari and Daisuke hastily untangled themselves and nodded an affirmative "Right!".

"Come on, Veemon!" Daisuke said, yanking his digivice from his pocket, "Digivolve!"

The brief transformation sequence into XVeemon was too long for Tailmon, who rushed into the action, fists drawn. She was able to dodge the huge Parrotmon, but her cat punches had little effect. And when she could dodge the blasts, the buildings could not. Hikari watched helplessly as more glass crunching and screams could be heard. XVeemon joined the action, but soon it became clear it was going to take more than two champions to stop the bird.

"Daisuke!" Hikari yelled, "That thing's an Ultimate! There's no WAY we can take it!" They shielded their faces as some bits of cement flew in their direction.

"You're right!" he yelled back, "We're going to have to make a run for it!"

"Hows that?" Hikari responded, distracted by the losing battle in front of her face. Daisuke turned to XVeemon.

"XVEEMON!" he shouted, "We're going to make a break! Distract him as long as you can, then follow us! We'll find somewhere safe!"

"Fine!" the digimon shouted back, as he and Tailmon made another futile attack, "Run! We'll be right behind you!"

And they ran. Quite literally, as fast as they could. The sounds of the battle raged on behind them, but they both panned the area for a safe haven. Somewhere they could stay until the coast was clear. 

The first thing Hikari spotted was a public bathroom. Which originally struck her as a stupid idea, but one had to admit it was built a lot sturdier than any of the other buildings. So she yanked Daisuke's arm and they dove through the entrance and the metal door of the women's side. The man working the desk held a burning cigarette between his fingers, and watched them pass with stoned looking eyes.

"Do you want to buy any toliet paper?" he had asked, in a heavy accent, but the two darted in the door before he could finish the sale. Followed by the two digimon yelling "wait for us!". And a Parrotmon which stopped short, looked around, and with a snort begin to pace around the bathrooms. The man at the counter took one look at the thing and tossed the cigarette over his shoulder. He put his head down on the desk and went to sleep.

--

"Man, Hikari," Daisuke said, giving the bathroom the once over, "You sure have some taste. I thought we were going into another alley or something."

"Sorry…"

"No, really! Its okay. I mean, we have running water, and plently of room, and of course, toliets. Take away the giant bird preventing our exit, and its perfect."

Hikari sighed, offering a weak smile to her companion who was sitting on the sink counter. Tailmon and Veemon had collapsed in an exhausted heap near the door, and were still snoozing. She herself, had taken to pacing in front of the neat line of bathroom stalls. She glanced to Tailmon.

"They're really beat. They need a chance to rest."

"They're getting one!" Daisuke said, gesturing towards the door, "We can't get back out there until the Parrot of Doom gets bored and decides to leave us alone."

"I was wondering about that," Hikari said, checking her hair in the mirror and fixing it best she could, "Are they looking for us? All those evil Digimon?"

"I guess," the goggled boy said with a shrug, "Don't know how they know we're the Chosen though."

"Vamdemon would have told them."

"And how does he know?"

She had to think for a minute.

"Spies," she finally said, "Something was watching us this whole time. Since we stepped off the first bus. I…I knew they were there all along. I just didn't want to believe it." She turned away to collect herself. Daisuke didn't respond for what seemed like hours.

"Oh," was the final response, followed by another pause, "Takeru does that too."

"What?"

"You know…he always like…KNOWS stuff," she heard Daisuke hop up the counter and walk up behind her, "You know," he said again.

"Yeah," she gave him a small smile, but she did turn around. He hopped back up on the counter, leaning back against the mirror.

"Like, you know, this one time, he kept saying something was making him really nervous. And I thought he was being paranoid and all, but it turned out there was this group of kids following us, and their intentions weren't very friendly."

Hikari looked up. He had caught her attention.

"Well you know the whole "Chosen" thing doesn't fly very well," he continnued, swinging his legs, "So somehow these guys had found out, and they looked ready to stone us or something when we finally met up. Which wasn't cool, because there were about six of them and only two of us. So we tried to act all tough and scare them off, but that didn't work and…"

_Back off, we…don't want any trouble. Get behind me, Hikari._

Daisuke stopped swinging his legs to concentrate more on the story. He was looking at his sneakers, "And I'd like to say we managed to beat THEM up or something, but actually they were doing quite a number on us - well, Takeru, they hadn't got to me yet - until Miyako showed up."

_Can I take a shot at him Go ahead Don't touch her Shut your mouth Get your hands off Please leave him alone My sister Don't scream Shut the fuck up Don't move Help Help Somebody…_

"And she wasn't really heroic either this time, but it was kinda funny because she started screaming that she was going to call the cops, and she was so LOUD, they actually scared off. We started yelling too, and shoved a couple of them to the ground before they could all get away, which is actually really funny looking back on it. Have a nice trip, see you next-"

_oh my god oh my god oh my god can you shut her up she'll alert the whole fucking neighborhood don't cry, hikari but you're its nothing run get out of here we're not going to let that happen oh my god oh my god fuck hold still stop can't you see your hurting him we'll hurt her if you scream don't just stand there let her go let her go stop it stop it stop it oh you're scared aren't you get your hands off of me oh my god niichan stop stop STOP_

"fall - Hey, Hikari? Yo, Yagami, am I losing you here?" Daisuke asked, interupting his dramatic retelling. She wasn't moving. She couldn't move. She tried to look at Daisuke, but she couldn't move, she couldn't get any sound out of her throat. She couldn't breath.

Two hands reached out to roughly grab her shoulders and give her a shake. Her legs regained feeling and her face snapped up to look at the boy standing over her.

"Breath," he ordered, and she complied shakily, but without much reluctance. He let her go, "Are you okay then? It wasn't another…y'know, evil vibe, was it?"

She shook her head.

"Well? What happened then?" He waved his hands, "Speaka my lang-uage?"

She managed a small smile and her throat felt a little better.

"Sorry."

"Its okay," he said, still expecting a response.

"I was…I was just…remembering something," that I really shouldn't have, she added silently, a grim look crossing her features. Daisuke eyed her closely, then grabbed her hands and pulled her with him back towards the counter. He jumped up between the sinks.

"Sit?" he said. She did. There was a short pause, then the goggled boy drew in short breath, "Do you want to…talk about it?"

Hikari pushed a hair out of her face and offered a weak grin, "Honestly, I don't."

"Aww, c'mon, it'll make you feel better."

"You're just saying that.  
"Trust me! It will."

"You don't know that," she said again, hoping he'd drop the issue. But from the short time of knowing Daisuke, she knew he wouldn't. And from the fifteen years of knowing herself, she knew she would tell him.

"C'mon, Hikari-chaaan…"

"Okay," she sighed, "You want to know, so I'll tell you. But it isn't…very pretty…" She tried to make like she was just rubbing her eyes, but Daisuke caught her.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking very unsure of what to do and wearing a patented "shit, I made her cry" expression. Hikari tried to smile.

"Its okay…I guess I- God, why am I making excuses?," she said, wiping at her eyes again. It just wouldn't stop! "It…it happened when I was really young. At first I only remembered pieces of it, but as I got older it just kept coming back to…well, haunt me," she sniffed. He listened.

"Ok, ok, let me start over," she said, drawing in a deep breath, "I told you I had a brother, right? Taichi. And when I was little we'd go play soccer at this little playground. Which wasn't…wasn't very f-far away. But we had to walk through this se-secluded area to get there. A…and I guess he had t-told someone about being a Chosen or something, and it got out…a…and in our area there were kids who made it known that they hated us…"

"Sounds familiar," Daisuke said grimly, as she paused. She hiccuped and rubbed at her eyes again.

"One day…they…they crossed us when we were going to p…play soccer. And I don't…don't remember it all, but they were throwing stuff and yelling stuff I'd never heard and I think T-Tai tried to get in front to p…protect me, and this one bigger kid k-kicked him and when he fell down it was like the whole group…the whole group…"

"Its okay, Hikari…"

"Just surrounded us. And I…g-got yanked back, and I remember screaming a lot, and they hit me once, and I was c-crying, but they just kept hitting Tai…" she hadn't even noticed that she had crossed her arms tightly, and was beginning to shake, "And he was down, and he kept ye-yelling at me to run, but I couldn't and they kept kicking and punching and…" she tried to steady her voice again, and that was when she noticed that Daisuke had rose up to his knees and wrapped her up in a hug. She let out a rattled breath, "And he wound up in the hospital. I didn't think he was going to be okay, but it was just bruises and scrapes and a few broken bones…but I…Daisuke, I was so scared."

"Oh man, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Hikari, I didn't know…"

She blinked the remaing tears out of her eyes then moved a hand up to rest on his arm.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dumped all this on you…"

"No! Its okay," he said, squeezing her tighter, "I know you're upset, and I'm not helping getting all choked up and…Hikari?"

"Yeah?"

"Nothing like that is EVER going to happen again if you stick with us. Remember that, 'Kari."

"And us too," piped up a voice, as a certain white catty Digimon moved to curl up in her parteners lap. Hikari laughed.

"You were listening to e…everything?" she said, looking into Tailmon's large eyes, "You shouldn't have to- well…thank you."

"Group hug? Group hug! I want in!" Veemon exclaimed, working his way between Daisuke and Kari. They both laughed and gave the blue Digimon a quick a hug while Tailmon rolled her eyes and "tsk"ed.

"Don't expect me to get all mushy," she said, but it was a good natured comment and well accepted by the group.

"I'm sorry," the blue digimon responded, "I got caught up in the moment."

"I think we all did," Daisuke offered, climbing up on the counter to get another view out the window, "Oh, man! Parrotmon's still out there."

"He is?" Hikari asked, carefully joining him to peer out the clouded glass, "He is."

"'Kari?"

"What?"

"You're still crying…"

She drew in a breath.

"Shut up," she said.

****

!intermission!

Hey there sportsfans! This is just a little bonus I'm throwing in for the "fun" of it. ;p Five parts have passed so its time for a little summary update. Thus far, aspects of the lovely alternate universe are:

-No one likes Chosen Children! Chosen are bad! Kill! But really others are just scared of what they can do.

-There have been two attacks mentioned, and apparently there were human casulties for both. This is one reason others are afraid of everyone with a Digimon.

-Rather than one large team of children, there were several small ones. IE, Kari mentions joining with her brother and his friend (maybe Izumi)

-And everyones afraid of Miyako because of the hacking rumors. Whether this will be important later is…yet to be revealed ^^ Aren't I helpful?

Now that we have an update there, let's catch up on our current situation. Daisuke, Kari, Takeru, and Ken are off chasing Vamdemon. Miyako and the rest of the high school class is STUCK IN A BLOODY DRUG STORE. Note:

- They wound up taking refuge there when their bus was in danger of attack by Tyranomon. Miyako put up a shield, so we're safe unless the power goes.

- Miyako fetched their Digimon using a computer. Hawkmon is staying with the class in the store.

- Hikari and Daisuke / Ken and Takeru left with their digimon to locate Vamdemon's whereabouts. Neither team has gotten anywhere yet, becaaause…

- Hikari and Daisuke are stuck in a public bathroom by a giant freak parrot (whee!), and…

- We're yet to hear from the other two (next chapter, next chapter!)

-future queries

^^

Is the power going to hold for the kids in the drug store?

What happened to Yagiko and will she cause any more trouble?

Is Rei at all important to the plot? (levii: probably not)

What's Vamdemon trying to pull?

Why couldn't Tailmon/Veemon digivolve any further?

Where are Takeru and Ken all this time?

Speaking of Ken, what's he hiding? Is there another reason (other than Kari) he didn't reveal being a Chosen?

Is Parrotmon going to just leave without a fight?

Is Takeru still mad about being shoved out a window? (levii: oh yeah…)

Who's going to pay for all those candy bars?

--

That's it until next time ^^ My Beta and I sorta came up with the queries based on a few remarks I'd gotten on the story. And some of our own =) And _Starting Over _IS coming up soon. I can only handle two multi's at a time ^^

I'm pretty sure I'm doing this whole Xveemon thang wrong. But I was TIRED, okay? Aaand begging isn't my style (HAH!), so I'll just request you click the button in the lower left corner and toss me a review. Or two. I won't mind, honest.


	6. What Marks the Spot

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A/N: Yeaah, this took a while, but hopefully it advances the plot a little more than the last chapter. First we focus on Takeru and Ken and how they're doing locating Vamdemon's base. And how well they're (not) getting along. Then we get the other two on the scene. I know if anyone's out to nitpick this, there are problems left and right. My apologies go out for the two biggest continuity errors, which you can look for if you so desire. But it ain't very hard. Cookie if you can find at least three ;)

This is sort of short and crappy, and it'll get less corny again, I swear. I just need to get all this moving along. Review me? Pleease.

part six :: **what marks the spot**

"I don't know if we should go in there."

"It's the place on Miyako's map," Ken quipped, giving Takeru a sidelong glance, "We're obliged to check it out."

"Well yeah…but…" the blonde shrugged. He allowed Patamon to fly up into his arms, "We should tell the others. They'd want to know if we found anything."

"He's right, Ken," Wormmon said. He tugged at his partners pant leg, "Why not send Daisuke a mail?"

Ken looked up to the building's entrance. The light only extended a few meters into the building, and he thought he could see a staircase extending under ground. The interior looked cold and mossy. Takeru shifted from one foot to the other.

"We don't know if this is the right place," Ken explained, looking back to his companions, "We don't want to report a false alarm."

"It's the right place," Takeru mumbled, eyeing the corridor.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just don't think it's a good idea to go in there alone, Ken."

"Why?" Ken took a few paces closer to the entrance, "Are you scared?" Takeru stepped up beside him and they both peered in silently. Like two little kids observing a deep hole.

"I'm not. It's just…"

"Don't worry," Ken said, trying his best not to sound annoyed, "I'll go in first with Wormmon. Then you two can follow." Takeru said nothing, "You ARE scared!"

"I'm not scared!" Takeru repeated, dropping Patamon, "But we have no idea WHAT'S in there!"

"Yeah…" Ken drew out the word, fiddling with a thread on his pants, "But…"

"I'm a little apprehensive," Patamon admited. Ken rolled his eyes and tossed back his head.

"I'm not," he said, "Doesn't scare me. Its just a warehouse. It probably isn't even what we're looking for."

Takeru arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

"I'm going in," Ken said, "Coming or not?"

"I'm not scared," Takeru repeated, but he let Ken lead the way. Patamon glanced behind him before he followed his friends.

"Something's wrong, isn't it, Takeru?" he asked, keeping a soft voice. Takeru shoved his hands farther into his pockets and didn't answer.

--

Ken pushed some spider webs away and continnued through the corridor. Takeru hadn't said one word since they'd entered, but Ken could hear the blonde's following footsteps so he wasn't concerned. The building was just as mossy and cold as it had looked from the outside, and he kept hoping he'd find some sign that they were in the right place so they could turn around and go straight out. Despite what he claimed, he wasn't completely comfotable. There was absolutly no light in the place, and navigation wouldn't have even been an option if it wasn't for the flashlight he had found in his pack. The light was small, and it made Patamon and Takeru follow close. There was no way for them to chicken out and leave without facing the dark curvy path unaided. Around the next corner, the corridor widened and Ken took the moment to turn around and check on his teammates behind him. He shone the light to Takeru and Patamon.

"Are you too okay?" he said, realizing how loud his voice sounded. They both nodded. But Ken couldn't help noticing the blonde didn't look so good. He looked cold, at the least, and had folded his arms tightly across his chest.

"Takeru? You cold?"

"No," he whispered, shaking his head. But in the small circle of light, he didn't look very sure.

"Okay," Ken shrugged, starting ahead again.

"Ken?"

"Yeah?"

"This has to be the right place. Turn back, we'll mail the others."

"Takeru…are you sick?"

"No. Let's turn back."

Ken shook his head.

"I don't see how YOU know this is the right place, we can't just-" Ken froze in midsentence. Something felt very wrong, as if a wave of ice had passed over his body. The air he inhaled stuck in his throat, and his stomach dropped abruptly. But as quick as it came, it passed again, and he whirled around to look at Takeru. Takeru's expression hadn't changed. Much.

"Did you feel that?" Ken whispered.

A nod in response.

"That was some kind of evil vibe, wasn't it?" Patamon asked, shivering and inching closer to his partner.

"Evil vibe?" Ken laughed uncertainly, brushing the memory away, "I bet it was just a draft. Come on, just a little farther…then we'll turn around. I think we're getting close to something."

"Ken-"

"Just a little farther!" he said again, noting the crack in his own voice. But he pressed on. The other three had no choice but to follow. Around the next corner, the corridor opened into a larger room. Ken stopped, and shone his light around at the ceiling. A shadow passed by, so quickly it looked more like an illusion.

"What was that?" Ken asked, trying to find it again with the flashlight.

"Bats," Patamon whispered.

"Bats?" Wormmon repeated. Ken whirled around, shining the light on his followers.

"Where did it go?" he asked, chewing his bottom lip and continnueing to search in short jerky motions. A few more shapes obscured the light. Ken stumbled to the side.

"Listen!" Takeru said suddenly. At first Ken only noticed his own heartbeat, but then it became apparent that they weren't alone. Soft screeching and scuffling sounds commenced above them. Then they appeared. Bats, just as Patamon had predicted. Swarms of them. They were still circling above, and as Ken looked up he guessed they only had moments left before the bats were on top of them. There wasn't even time to digivolve. They had to run for it. He shone the flashlight, panicked, seeking the exit. He couldn't find one. Where had they come from??

Worrmon was cowering against his leg, and Ken couldn't even see Takeru and Patamon. The dark haired boy let out a frustrated cry.

"Things really can't get worse than this," he said, more to himself than anyone else. He looked up at the bats, then back to where he thought they had entered from. No way out. He took a few steps in the other direction, but no footsteps followed behind him. Instead he heard something hit the ground, and a cry from one of the Digimon.

"Oh God, Takeru," Ken muttered through gritted teeth as the bats swooped lower, "Tell me you didn't just pass out."

He just had time to pull out his Digivice.

--

Hikari groaned, cracking her back and brushing some hair out of her eyes. It wasn't a dream. They were still in a public rest room, sleeping (to her repeated disgust) on the floor and waiting for Parrotmon to leave and release his hostages. They'd made like their Digimon and napped. Afterall, as Daisuke pointed out, there had been nothing better to do.

She rolled over and half sat up, pushing herself up on her elbows and looking at Daisuke through bleared sleepy eyes. He was curled up quietly against the wall, Chibimon playing the convenient pillow beneath his head. She gave him a pathetic smile. But if Daisuke was still sleeping, some other sound must have woken her up. Something dull and repeating, something she could almost hear again.

She shuffled over to her pack, thinking it to be her phone, or maybe her digivice. The tone started again. Digivice, yes, but not hers. She was just close enough to Daisuke to nudge him with her foot.

"Daisuke," she said, "Hey, wake up." He stirred, but not very much. Hikari put a hand on her hip, and gave him another nudge. No avail.

"I guess I'll just have to get it myself," she said aloud, dropping to her knees and reaching around to Daisuke's vest pockets. It took a couple of tries to come up with the item, and by that time the boy was fully awake. She brought up the mail screen when he sat up to see who had mugged him.

"What was that Hikari?" he teased, watching her lean back against the wall and scroll down to his messages, "Rwrrar. Do that again."

She made a huge point of rolling her eyes, then flicked him in the forhead with a nonchalant hand.

"You have mail," she said, tossing the D3 in his lap. Since he was awake, might as well let him read his own mail. He thumbed over some of the buttons.

"Are you sure its mine?"

"Pretty sure. Mine's set on vibrate."

It took a while for the joke to sink in, but when it did, he looked up and cracked a grin.

"She has a sense of humor after all! Whatdoyaknow! Oh hey…I do got mail. Its from Ken."

"Ooh, what did he say? Did he and Takeru find anything?"

"It just says. 'You have to come quick, we're'"

Hikari waited for him to finish.

"That's it," he said, "Its just cut off like that. Do you think its just my digivice?"

"Somehow I don't," Hikari said, a sudden feeling rising in her throat and sinking her stomach, "I think they're in trouble."

"I think we're in trouble," Daisuke said, tapping the D3's tiny screen with his nail, "We can't exactly save their skins when there's a devil parrot threatening ours."

"Parrotmon!" Hikari exclaimed, looking up the window, "Do you think he's still there?"

"Don't ask me, check for yourself. I would, y'know, but that requires rising, and walking and…hey, if you're gonna climb on that be careful, it wobbles."

"Thanks for the warning," Hikari said, but she was already up to window and gripping the ledge for balance. She peered out. Left. Right. Nothing.

"I think he's gone," she said, feeling the need to knock on some kind of wood. Daisuke held his breath as she gave the area the twice over then climbed down.

"I don't see him anywhere."

"Well that's a piece of good news," Daisuke said, still fixed on the digivice while one hand petted Chibimon on the head. The little digimon was still asleep, "I'm setting this thing to track. I can see Ken and Takeru on the map, but I don't know where they are yet. The signal's kind of weak."

"It can't be that hard to find them. We do have a signal. And hey, not meaning to be random here, but where is Tailmon?"

Daisuke shrugged.

"I'm here," came a voice, and Hikari watched as her backpack twitched and a pair of white ears poked out, "I crawled in here while you two were snoozing. I wasn't about to chance the floor after what Hikari told me about public restrooms."

Her partener flinched.

"It's okay in a pinch," she said, more to herself, "Anyway, we're getting out of here. Maybe Daisuke and his pillow will be obliged to check if the coast is clear."

"Maybe," Daisuke responded, tickling Chibimon under the chin, "But it depends on what the pillow wants to do."

Kari allowed herself a laugh, reaching out to pull on one of Chibimon's ears, then pull the waking Digimon up into her arms.

"Come on Daisuke," she taunted, tugging at the ear, "Wouldn't want anything bad happening to Takeru, now would me?" Chibimon yawned.

"What's going on?" he asked sleepily. Daisuke sent the brunette a smirk.

"Could say the same thing about Ichijouji," he shot back, standing up and picking Chibimon out of her arms, "Come on little buddy, let's go see if that Parrot's really gone."

Hikari shook her head as Tailmon nudged her leg with the backpack. She picked it up, watching as Chibimon pulled a quick digivolve-on-demand and followed his partener out the door.


	7. On the Diagnol

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A/N: I stalled on this, I admit it. But despite how much revising this whole thing needs, I still keep going back to it ^^; hopefully it's not in vain. *shrugs*

Just in writing this I'm beginning to realize how this comes together, and how easy its gonna be to misinterpret. There are reasons for most everything, and when this is over (soon! 3-4 more parts, I think) I'll include some end notes to clarify.

part seven :: **on the diagnol**

What started out as just an adventure spiraled out of control into some kind of nightmare. As soon as Hikari and Daisuke set outside, the reality kicked in. They started to worry. The streets were completely abandoned as before, but now the surrounding buildings were trashed and even the sun seemed to be hiding behind the above cloud cover.

"Whoa, its like the apocolypse," Daisuke had commented, earning a scowl from Hikari while Veemon hid his head.

"Everyone's just inside," Hikari had said, but she didn't seem very sure.

"Mmhm…"

They passed by a huge pile of broken glass, then had to go around some twisted metal. They walked in the direction Daisuke pointed out, the direction where Ken and Takeru were, but they walked in hopes of leaving the trashed city block behind. They talked about their friends back in the drugstore, and hoped they were all right, but neither could bring themselves to speculate on the others.

The "others" meaning Ken and Takeru. Hikari was silently kicking herself for agreeing to the split, and from the look on Daisuke's face, he wasn't very happy either. The Digimon followed a few paces behind, stealing glimpses to eachother, but not to much else.

"We should be getting close," Daisuke muttered, pushing back hair from his forhead. It was about time, Hikari thought, "Just a little father. Up ahead."

"Yeah."

A few more steps, another chunk of silence.

"Do you think they're alright?" The boy blurted.

"Yes," Hikari said, but she had paused too long. Daisuke's face fell.

"Let's go," he said, "go" meaning "go fast", "speed up", and "hope you weren't too late". And that's what they did.

--

Their reaction to the dark and endless warehouse didn't bear resemblance to Takeru's and Ken's one bit. They rushed right in. They weren't afraid, at this point, of the dark unknown. And what they were afraid of, was something neither could bring themselves to say.

"Let's stop for a second," Hikari said, between large gulps of air. She leaned an arm against the wall and tried to steady her breathing.

"I think we all need a rest," Tailmon supplied, "But I don't like the looks of this place."

"Here's a good a place as any," Daisuke said, shining Hikari's emergency flashlight around, "Its an open room. Not like that corridor from before."

"We're practiclly on top of them," Hikari said, pointing to his digivice. She took in a few more breaths, "Okay, okay, I'm fine now."

"We're slowing down anyway. Now, we have to be quiet. I have no idea what we're up against."

"Vamdemon?" Veemon supplied, which only earned him a look of tired disbelief from Hikari.

"We're walking straight into a trap, then, aren't we? Straight into a fight."

"We don't know that, 'Kari…"

"We are, we are. What do you think, they just got lost in here?"

It was almost snapped, and it caught the other three by surprise. She was losing hope. And Daisuke wasn't going to let her.

"We can't turn back! We're really close, and if we know it's a trap, we have the upper hand, right?"

"Right!" (that was from Veemon.)

"It's not that simple…"

"It is! Geez, buck up or something, Yagami. We're the good guys, that's what counts."

"Are we really?" Hikari had pushed away from the wall, and it seemed she had had all the rest she needed, "Or is the destruction of the city really our fault? Parrotmon could have hurt innocent people just because we stood in his way. This IS our fault, Daisuke. We're not the good guys."

"So now you want to stop?" it was the most dangerous tone she had ever heard Daisuke hear. He didn't move, but his body seemed to tense up, "Just because of what some idiots have been saying about us? You want to let our friends down."

"No, I didn't say that!"

"I thought you were one of us. You sound like Yagiko."

"Maybe Yagiko was right! We're cursed, we're freaks, and all this death and destruction IS our fault!"

The two wavered against eachother, unsure whether to advance or retreat. The digimon stayed silent.

"But we stopped it! We saved the fucking world, Yagami! Were you there? Weren't you there?"

As his temper flared, Hikari found that hers was suddenly distinguished. She was weak. She couldn't even win this fight. 

"I'm no hero."

The quiet response knocked Daisuke off balanace. He let out an angry stutter, as some of his rage seeped away as well.

"But you will be," he said.

She eyed him oddly with a frown, recalling some Star Wars scene in the back of her mind. What had Yoda said to Luke? "I'm not afraid." "You will be.". Daisuke might as well have told her this.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember how you said you just…know stuff? And I said Takeru did too?"

"Yeah…"

"Right now I know something too…I know that even if you don't come along, I'm going in there to help our friends or die trying. I'm serious. But I also know I will die trying if I go alone. Because I know you're going to save us, Hikari…"

"Daisuke…"

"No, shut up, I'm right. It doesn't matter if I'm the leader or how crafty Miyako and Takeru can be. You're going to make the difference."

And it was silent again.

"But I'm not a hero."

"You're wrong."

--

Hikari would have laughed at the dramatic speech in different circumstances, but he was too intense, too sincere. And for some reason, she believed him.

"We'll do it together," Tailmon had told her quietly after Daisuke had finished ranting.

"I hope so," Hikari said. It was all she could say.

"Now are we ready to go?" Veemon asked, his voice holding a trace of "I hope not". Daisuke had turned his back on the trio after the argument, but now he looked over his shoulder to his partener.

"I think we are," he said. Hikari locked eyes with him.

"Let's go," she said. 

They consulted the digivice again, and decided they were practiclly on top of the other two, or at least their digivices. Daisuke pointed the flashlight down a final corridor, and the others followed. They stepped lightly, but quicker than originally planned. They had lost too much time.

When Daisuke stopped, Veemon bumped into his legs, and would have let out a surprised yelp if Tailmon hadn't grabbed him and silenced him. Hikari drew as close to the boy in front of her as she could. She pressed up against his back. The flashlight was off, and she was about to ask what he was doing when the lights came on.

The lights weren't bright at all, and left the corners of the room a mystery, but it was enough to blind the four for a couple of seconds. Hikari had thrown both hands over her face, but now she tried to squint, just enough to see where they were and what was going on. 

"What the hell??" she heard Daisuke yell, while Tailmon let fly a similar sentiment. The dots stopped dancing in front of their eyes just in time for the group to see a shape slipping down the through the ceiling.

Tailmon was either the first to see, or the first to recognize the thing.

"Vamdemon!" she exclaimed, with as much contempt as she could muster.

"Vamdemon?" the others repeated, a little out of synch, then proceeded to stand there and boggle at both the cloaked figure and eachother. When the figure opened its arms in bleak presentation, all doubts of identity were removed. Tailmon was right. He stood before them, in a sort of morbidly majestic glory, black coatails spread and a scarlet mask across his face.

"You! I hate you!" Tailmon was yelling, and Hikari had never seen her so upset, "You enslave me and kill my best friend! And that's not enough! Come on, Hikari, I want to fight!"

Hikari found this exchange a little shocking, but nodded dumbly and pulled out her digivice. Daisuke's was already in his hand.

"Now, Now," Vamdemon said, and he was just so loud. His voice boomed, and echoed through every inch of the underground room, "Not so fast."

Hikari recoiled, but her companions weren't fazed.

"Oh yeah?" Daisuke shot back, digivice bared like a weapon, "You can't stop us. We came prepared for a fight!"

"As did I," was the response, and to Hikari, anything this guy could say could say counted as eerie. Somehow, more lights turned on, but the group was more prepared this time. On one level. On another level they were almost floored.

Hikari did suspect Vamdemon had Takeru and Ken in his…well, clutches, but she hadn't really expected to see both boys hanging like pendulums straight in front of them, digimon at their sides. Neither looked hurt (Vamdemon had been so kind as to tie them around the waists), but both looked pretty scared and angry. But there wasn't much fight left in their bodies, and they hung limply, as if unconcious. The digimon looked equally defeated, and were certainly too wrapped up in black cord to move. Hikari wondered how long they had been there, and a guiltly pang touched her heart.

"Aw…fuck…" Daisuke said, lowering the digivice. They were stuck. Check. Checkmate, even. Hikari scrambled for some possible strategy.

But it was Tailmon that came up with the plan.

"You think we care about them? We're going to FLOOR you!" she yelled, "Let's take him, Hikari!"

Well, it wasn't much of a plan, but Hikari did pick up and play along.

"Right!" she said, "A couple of kids aren't going to get in our way. Go ahead, Tailmon!"

And the white cat sprung.

And was knocked down.

"I didn't even see him touch her!" Daisuke exclaimed, as Tailmon rose back up slowly.

"I think we're going to have to fight smart," Hikari added, teeth clenched. She couldn't take her eyes off Vamdemon's four captives.

"He's not playing fair!" Tailmon lamented, which only earned a laugh from the virus Digimon. Vamdemon towered over all of them.

"Don't care about them afterall?" he asked, tossing a clawed hand in the direction, "Well, I'll just delete them then. No use to me. They'll just get in the way."

At this point Daisuke freaked out, yelling things that Hikari couldn't even make out and holding his head so tightly in his hands. The girl noticed Vamdemon turning to the captives, but suddenly it was all a game.

Her mind wouldn't make it real.

Takeru and Ken were throwing heated words at eachother, and it looked like they were trying to kick and tangle limbs. She could hardly hear them.

And the finality wasn't kicking in. If Vamdemon deleted them, so to speak, that would be the end of it. Game over. Chosen lose. She'd never see Takeru shrug off Daisuke's advances again, and she'd never see Ken sketch or shyly smile at her again. And there was nothing she could do about it. Daisuke was screaming and Takeru and Ken were yelling ("If you miss, Takaishi…" You just have to trust me!"), but everything inside her was blank.

Then it exploded.

"BLOODY STREAM!" Vamdemon bellowed, and Hikari cried out when she saw the scarlet energy flow from his hands. Towards the two boys and their digimons.

"No!" she cried. Daisuke had covered his face already and fallen to the ground.

But…

The tangled figures of her two friends suddenly seperated, propelled away from the concentrated blast. The attack hit the ceiling, which shook and crumbled, knocking the hooks holding the captives and their digimon loose. Four figures started a long fall to the ground, followed by bits of rubble. The ceiling was fairly high.

Seconds later, Hikari would realize that the exchanged kicks she had seen earlier were just desperate attempts to get in a position where they could push away from eachother with their legs. With enough force to avoid the powerful but concentrated attack. Daisuke peeled his hands away from his eyes, and he virtually lit up when he saw the two were still alive. He took off for the rubble pile immediately, leaving Hikari and her digimon to stand alone in front of a currently fuming Vamdemon.

"Why are you making this so difficult?" he spat at the children, "Its impossible to stop me now!"

But Vamdemon had lost something important. Takeru and Ken could no longer be used as pawns, bargaining pieces.

Daisuke had rushed to the side of the fallen quartet, and had propped both Takeru and Ken up in seating positions against his own body. Both looked a little worse for the wear, but they didn't look half as defeated as they had from their pendulum positions. They were defiant, and, Hikari realized, so was she.

Vamdemon still had the upper hand of course, but they had leveled the playing field and captured his pawns. It was no longer a checkmate.

So Hikari smiled.

__

Eviiil cliff hanger, I know. This part was a lot darker then the others, and wound up quite a bit shorter as well. I'm really sorry it took so long to get out, and I'm hoping the eighth (8 parts! aah, commitment!) will come out much faster. And yeah, the title is a description of how pawns capture. Review? Review for me, dahling? 

coming up next **rip and split**


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